Stacking machine



NOV. 25, l1969 .1 H MoRRow ETAL 3,480,503

STACKING MACHINE Filed March 1o, 196e v 9 sheets-sheet 1 yy n md INVENTORS @i222 Haffow Q90 @baffes )Wedfzz'C/ Nov. 2s, `1969 J, H, MQRROW mL 3,480,503

STAGKING MACHINE Filed March 10, 1966 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS .John HMoffow QW L an? Medzz eff @www/yg Nov. 25, 1969 J. H. MoRR'ow ETAL STACKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 10, 1966 H W un M f@ l. @m2 @a Nov. 25, 1969 J. H.` MoRRo-w ETAL 3,480,503

STACKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March l0, 1966,

w am walk Q www. VO mf HNWQ nlmf JMJ@ .Il Jgl/ NOV. 25, 1969 1 -H, MORROW ET AL 3,480,503

STACKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March lO, 1966 TIT INVENTORS Ifo/122 757. )Yarrow and czfas' Mec'fu'c'k BJ m,

Nov. 25, 1969 J. H. MQRRW ET AL 3,480,503

` STACKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed March 10, 1966 INVENTORS JfOZU NNN NNN mwN @EN bmw] Nov. 25, 1969 J. H. MoRRow ET AL 3,480,503

STAGKING MACHINE Filed March 10, 1966 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 INVENTORLS' Ifo/m Hmmm w Y flezs' Mea/zata? Nov. 25, 1969 Filed March 10, 1966 LIGHT SOURCE CIRCUIT J. H. MORROW ET AL STACKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 MA/NTA//VED c/Rcc//T RELAY FUR /NsERr//l/G MACH/NE "RUN f' CIRCUIT ELECTR/C CLUTCH ANO AUX/LIAR Y MOTOR CIRCUIT FOR MAILER /NsERr/A/s 22o u MACH/NE MOTOR L/NE INSERT/NG MA CHM/- INVENTORS c/Rc'z//T 296 MOI'J'OZU QM United States Patent O 3,480,503 STACKING MACHINE John H. Morrow, Oak Lawn, and Charles Mednick, Posen, Ill., assignors to Magnacraft Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a copartnership Filed Mar. 10, 1966, Ser. No. 533,392 Int. Cl. B65c 1/02 U.S. Cl. 156-351 13 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE An improved system for conveying magazines, stacking the same, and feeding such magazines to a labelafxing machine, including a pair of opposed reciprocating coplanar supporting plates for receiving magazines and dropping them one at a time to a stack, improved drive means for actuating the reciprocating supporting plates, auxiliary means for biasing the two supporting plates away from one another, means for sensing the height of a stack of such magazines and controlling the speed of the associated label-aixing machine in accordance therewith, and an improved conveyor arrangement for feeding the magazines from an inserting machine to a stacking machine and then to the label-allxing machine.

The present invention relates to a stacking machine which receives articles from a conveyor or other article supply means and stacks such articles one on top of the other. The stacking machine of the present invention is intended primarily for the handling of magazines, books, leaflets, brochures and other like mailable matter. While the machine will be described herein by way of example as used in the handling of magazines, it should be understood that it may be used for handling various types of mailable matter and may have other useful applications as well.

In the handling of magazines to be sent through the mail, it is desirable from the standpoint of elliciency and economy that as many as possible of the necessary operations from the assembling of the magazines to the stacking and tying of magazines ready for mailing be carried out by means of automatic machinery. In the formation of magazines or the like, a plurality of signatures, each comprising a folded printed sheet containing a number of pages, are assembled together by an inserting machine, and such signatures are bound or stitched together along one side edge in any desired manner and 'then trimmed at the other three edges in a trimmer machine so as to provide a completed magazine. In the following description the machinery for forming completed magazines from a plurality of signatures willfor the sake of simplicity be referred to simply as an inserted or inserting machine. When the magazines leave the inserter machine they are normally transported on a lug chain conveyor or the like which conveys the magazines in spaced piles of two or more. The most common procedure is to convey the magazines two at a time, e.g. in spaced piles of two magazines each, but the present invention is not limited in this respect.

After the magazines have been formed in the inserter machine, it is necessary that they be conveyed one at a time to a mailing machine including a label afixing unit which applies a mailing address label to each magazine. Inasmuch as the magazines are conveyed from the inserter machine two at a time, it is not possible to convey them directly to the label aflixing unit, and it has thus been common heretofore to take the magazines from a conveyor as they leave the inserting machine and place them on skids for storage and subsequent delivery to a mailing machine. However, the stacking machine of the present invention eliminates all such manual handling operations and the time and expense incident thereto by receiving the magazines being -conveyed two at a time from the inserter machine, dropping the magazines into a stack, and feeding the magazines one at a time from the bottom of the stack to a label afxing unit. Thus, in the preferred embodiment to be described herein, the stacking machine of the present invention functions as a magazine loader and serves to load or feed the magazines one at a time to a label affixing unit. However, the more general term stacking machine will be used herein, and it will be understood that the novel features to be described and claimed are applicable to various types of apparatus where magazines or other mailable matter or the like are to be received and automatically dropped into a stack.

It is therefore lan object of the present invention to provide an improved stacking machine for receiving magazines or other mailable matter or the like and automatically dropping such magazines into a stack.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine as last above-mentioned having improved retractable support means for receiving the magazines or the like and dropping the same into a stack, and improved drive means for actuating such support means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stacking machine as above-described in combination with conveyor means which conveys the magazines or other articles along a lirst path as they come from the inserter machine and then conveys such articles along a second path perpendicular to the first path before delivering them to the stacking machine.

Still another one of our objects is to provide a stacking machine including a hopper or the like in which magazines or other articles received by the machine are stacked, in combination with sensing means for sensing the height of the stack of articles and controlling the operation of subsequent processing apparatus and the feeding of articles from the stack to such apparatus in accordance with such stack height.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description thereof.

Now in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner of making and using our invention, we shall describe, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the best mode contemplated by us of carrying out the invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a stacking machine and associated conveyor means constructed in accordance with the present invention, the foregoing being shown in combination with a label afxing unit which receives articles from the stacking machine;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View of the stacking machine of FIGURE 1 showing hopper means for containing a stack of articles, retractable support means for dropping articles into the hopper, stack height sensing means associated with the hopper, and means for ejecting the articles from the bottom of the hopper;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational View of the apparatus of FIGURE 1, looking at a side of the machine opposite to that illustrated in FIGURE 1 and showing main and auxiliary drive means for operating an associated mailing machine which includes a label aixing unit, the mailing machine itself being removed. for the sake of simplicity;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view, partly in elevation, taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG- URE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the upper portion of the apparatus of FIGURE 3 with a cover plate being removed to better illustrate the drive mechanism for the stacking machine;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged fragmentary end elevational view looking from the rear at the upper portion of the apparatus of FIGURE 2 and showing a pair of retractable support means and drive mechanism for reciprocating the same;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 8--8 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a vertical sectional view taken Substantially along the line 9-9 of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a substantially enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken approximately along the line 10-10 of FIGURE 6, showing a portion of the drive means for the retractable support members of the present invention, such drive means including a drive gear having a projecting pin or dog thereon and a driven gear which is normally rotated by such dog;

FIGURE 11 is a vertical sectional View taken substantially along the line 11-11 of FIGURE 10;

FIGURE 12 is a diagrammatic top plan view illustrating the orientation and direction of movement of the magazines or other articles as they are fed in two or more at a time on a rst conveyor, moved transversely to the first conveyor on a second conveyor, stacked in a hopper, and then conveyed one at a time from the hopper to a label afiixing unit; and

FIGURE 13 is a simplified schematic wiring diagram for sensing means which sense the height of a stack of articles in the hopper and control the operation of the mailing machine in accordance with such stack height.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows a conveyor comprising a pair of frame elements 32 and 34, a pair of endless conveyor chains 36 and 38, a pair of upper pressure rollers 40 mounted on an arm 42 and controlled by a rotatable cam 44 which raises the rollers as the leading edges of magazines enter thereunder, and a plurality of drive lugs 46 secured to the conveyor chains for feeding a p-lurality of magazines or other articles A in spaced piles of two or more at a time. The conveyor 30 receives completely formed magazines A from an inserter machine (not shown) and delivers the magazines to a stacking machine indicated generally at 48 which stacks the magazines in a hopper 50 and feeds them one at a time from the bottom of the stack to a label aflixing unit 52. While only a relatively short conveyor section 30 is shown, it will be understood that the conveyor 30 including the portion thereof associated with the inserter machine and related components may be quite long. Moreover, as will be explained more fully hereinafter, the conveyor 30, the stacking machine 48 and the mailing machine which includes the label afxing unit 52 are all driven by a common drive from the inerter machine so that all such components will operate in timed relation to one another.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 4, the magazines are advanced by the lugs 46 on the conveyor 30 into a nip between an upper feed belt S4 and a lower feed belt 56. The conveyor chains 36 and 38 and the upper and lower feed belts 54 and S6 are driven from a drive chain 62 (see FIGURE 4), and the belts are driven at a speed somewhat in excess of the speed of the lug chains 36 and 38 so that the trailing edges of the magazines A will pull away from the lugs 46 before the latter move downwardly to begin their return travel on the endless chains. The magazines A are conveyed two or more at a time by the feed belts 54 and 56 until the leading bound or stitched edges of the magazines engage against an adjustable fixed stop plate 64, and the magazines are substantially immediately picked up by a second conveyor 66 (see FIGURES 5 and 6) comprising a pair of endless conveyor chains 68 and 70 having drive lugs 72 attached thereto. The second conveyor 66 feeds the magazines in a direction perpendicular to the first conveyor 30 toward a nip defined between upper and lower friction drive rolls 74 and 76 (see FIGURES 2, 5 and 6).

FIGURE 5 shows a plurality of sprocket wheels 78, 80, 82, 84 and 86, and an endless chain 88 wraps around the inside of the sprocket wheel and over the outside of the other sprockets. The sprocket 86 is driven in a counterclockwise direction in a manner to be described later herein, and thus the sprockets 78, 82, 84 and 86 are all rotated in a counterclockwise direction while the sprocket 80 is rotated in a clockwise direction. Referring now to FIGURE 6, the sprocket 78 is mounted on a shaft 92 which has the two lower feed rolls 76 mounted thereon in spaced relation, and thus the lower feed rolls are rotated in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 5. The two upper feed rolls 74 are mounted in alignment with the lower feed rolls 76 on a shaft 94, the latter being carried by one arm 96 of a bell crank lever 98 which is pivotally mounted on a shaft 100` which also carries and is rotated by the sprocket 82. The bellcrank 98 includes a second arm 102 which carries 'a roller 104, and the roller 104 rides on a cam 106 mounted on a shaft 108, the latter shaft having the sprocket 84 mounted on the end thereof. The shaft has a spur gear 110 mounted thereon (see FIGURE 6) for driving a spur gear 112 mounted on Ithe shaft 94, and in this manner counterclockwise rotation of the sprocket 82 as viewed in FIGURE 5 produces clockwise rotation of the upper feed rolls 74. Thus, the upper and lower feed Irolls are all positively driven and they cooperate in receiving magazines two or more at a time from the second conveyor 66 and feeding such magazines on toward the hopper 50.

The conveyor 66 as previously described includes a pair of endless chains 68 and 70 having drive lugs 72 secured thereto, and as shown in FIGURE 6 a pair of sprockets 114 and 116 are mounted on a shaft 118 at one end of the conveyor, while a pair of sprockets and 122 are mounted on a shaft 124 at the other end of the conveyor. The magazines are lconveyed by the lug chains 68 and 70 into a nip between the upper feed rolls 74 and the lower feed rolls 76, and the upper and lower feed rolls are driven at a somewhat greater rate of speed than the conveyor chains 68 and 70 in order that the trailing edges of the magazines will pull away from the lugs 72 before the latter move down around the forward sprockets 114 and 116. It will also be noted that the cam 106 on the shaft 108 acts upon the roller 104 to periodically raise the upper feed rollers 74 to an elevated position as shown in FIG- URE 5, such raising of the upper feed rolls being timed Iwith the arrival of a stack of two or more magazines from the conveyor 66 so as to facilitate entry of the leading edges of the magazine between the upper feed rolls 74 and the lower feed rolls 76.

The `drive for the foregoing components will now be descibed and for this purpose reference is first made to FIG- URES 1 and 3 which show a main input drive shaft 126 having a sprocket 128 which drives a `chain 130, and the chain 130 in turn drives a sprocket 132 on a shaft 134. Referring now to FIGURES 4, 5 and 6, a further sprocket 136 on the shaft 134 drives a chain 138 which extends upwardly over a sprocket 140 on the shaft 118, thereby rotating the shaft 118 which in turn drives the chain 88 and related components in the manner previously described. It should be understood that the main input shaft 126 is driven by the drive means for the inserter machine so that the apparatus of the present invention is driven in timed relation to the speed of the inserting machine.

Referring to FIGURE 2, the magazines arefed out from between the upper and lower feed rolls 74 and 76 between a pair of side guide plates 142 and 144 and into engagement with a stop bar 146. The magazines are conveyed with their bound or stitched edges iirst on the conveyor 30, and when they are picked up by the second conveyor 66 they are moved perpendicular to the first conveyor with their top edges rst. Accordingly, fas the magazines leave the feed rolls 74 and 76, the leading top edges thereof engage against the stop bar 146, at which 'time the magazines are disposed immediately over the hopper 50. The side guide plates 142 and 144 yare laterally adjustable depending upon the width of the magazines being handled in the apparatus. Thus, the side plate 144 is mounted on a pair of guide rods 148 which slide in a supporting member 150 and permit the plate to be releasably fixed in any desired lateral position, and the plate 142 is adjustably mounted in a similar manner by means of guide rods 151 and a mounting member 153.

After the magazines leave the upper and lower feed rolls 74 and 76 `and their leading to-p edges engage the stop bar 146, they fall downwardly into the hopper 50. In the particular example being described, the magazines at this time are moving two at a time, e.g. in spaced piles of two, although they could of course be moved three or more at a time depending upon the size of the magazines or other articles being handled. As two of the magazines engage 'the stop bar 146 and fall into the hopper 50, it is important that they fall perfectly fiat fand form a neat stack in the hopper. However, since the lea-ding top edges of the magazines are released by the feed rolls 74 and 76 well before the trailing bottom edges thereof, there is a tendency for the magazines to become tilted or cocked as they fall downwardly. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, a pair of oppositely disposed supporting plates 152 and 154 (see FIGURES 2 and 7) are mounted above the hopper 50 for momentarily supporting the magazines as they leave the feed rolls 74 and 76. That is, the supporting plates -2 and 154 move towardone another just as two of the magazines are leaving the feed rolls, and as the leading top edges of the magazines engage the stop bar 146, such magazines are supported in fiat condition on the supporting plates. The supporting plates 152 and 154 then move quickly away from one another so as to drop the two magazines in flat condition to the hopper 50. Thus, for each magazine or group of magazines conducted through the feed rolls 74 and 76, the supporting plates 152 and 154 move together to momentarily support the magazines until their trailing edges have cleared the feed rolls, and then the supporting plates move apart to release the magazines :to the hopper 50 in which they are neatly stacked for subsequent feeding to the mailing machine 52.

Referring to FIGURES 2 and 7-9, the plate 152 is secured to a carrier 156 by fastening screws 158 (see FIGURE 9), and the carrier 156 is slidable on a pair of fixed guide rods 160 and 162. A stud 164 projects upwardly from the center of the carrier 156, and one end of a connecting rod 166 is secured to the stud while the other end of the connecting rod is attached to a 'crank 168 by means of a pin 170. A common blade drive shaft 172 is mounted in bearings 174 and 176, and the shaft acts through a coupler 178 and a right angle gear mechanism 180 to rotate a vertical shaft 182. The crank 168 is mounted on the vertical shaft `182 so that rotation of the common drive shaft 172 will produce rotation of the crank 168 and consequent reciprocating movement of the carrier 156 and supporting plate 152. In a similar manner, the other end of the common drive shaft 172 acts through a coupler 184 and a right angle gear mecahnism 186 to rotate a vertical shaft 188 on which a crank 190 is mounted. An outer end of the crank 190 is connected to one end of a connecting rod 192, the other end of the rod being attached to a carrier 194 which is mounted on guide rods 195 and has secured thereto the supporting plate 154. Accordingly, rotation of the common drive shaft 172 causes the ftwo supporting plates 152 and 154 to reciprocate simultaneously, first moving inwardly towards one another to the approximate positions shown in FIGURE 7, and then moving outwardly away from one another to the approximate positions shown in FIGURE 2.

The above-described drive shaft 172 is driven by an endless chain 196 which extends over a sprocket 198 mounted on the shaft 172 (see FIGURES 2, 5, 6 and 7). The chain 196 also extends over and is driven by a sprocket 200, and the sprocket 200 is rotated by the previously described sprocket member 84, the latter being one of the several sprockets driven by the chain 88 as shown in FIGURE 5. The connection between the driving sprocket 84 and the driven sprocket 200 is best shown in FIGURES l0 and l1, and as there shown the sprocket 84 includes a hub portion 202. The driven sprocket 200 is rotatable on the hub 202 and is retained thereon by a retainer ring 204. The end of the sprocket member 200 is cut away at 205 through an angle of approximately degrees, and resilient pads 206 and 207 are mounted at each end of the cut-out portion. In addition, the sprocket 84 carries a dog or drive pin 208, and as the drive sprocket 84 rotates, the drive pin 208 engages the pad 207 and thereby rotates the driven sprocket 200. The purpose of the foregoing drive arrangement is to permit the driven sprocket 200 to rotate ahead of the drive sprocket 84 at certain times, `as Will be explained more fully hereinbelow, and it will be seen that with the dog arrangement described it is possible for the driven sprocket 200` to advance ahead of the drive sprocket 84 by approximately one-half revolution.

One of the most difficult problems encountered with a stacking or loading machine of the type described herein is that it is commonly subjected to jogging or rapidly repeated starting and stopping, and unless it operates normally under such difficult conditions the magazines or other artciles will become improperly positioned at various stages in the handling thereof. That is, the conveyor and stacking mechanism described herein is driven from the main input shaft shown at 126 in FIGURE l, and the latter is driven from the inserting machine which forms the magazines so that the latter and all other apparatus for subsequent handling of the magazines will operate in timed relation to one another. However, in actual practice, particularly during minor repairing and adjusting of the inserting machine and associated conveyors, it is often necessary for an operator to subject the inserting machine to jogging or repeated starting and stopping, in which case the entire system is subjected to the same conditions. This problem is particularly acute at the reciprocating supporting plates 152 and 154, since if the supporting plates are stopped as they are beginning to move apart to release magazines to the hopper 50, the result is often that the relatively flexible magazines will fall to the hopper in other than the desired flat condition. We have thus found it to be important that once the supporting plates begin to move apart, they must continue to move at a rapid rate in order that the magazines or other articles disposed thereon will be dropped in perfectly flat condition to the hopper.

In order to avoid the foregoing problems caused by jogging of the apparatus, we provide a tension spring 210 having one end -connected to a pin 212 at the underside of the supporting plate 152 as shown in FIGURE 7, and having its other end anchored to a fixed stud 214 at the underside of a housing member 216. In a similar manner, a tension spring 218 has one end connected to a pin 220 at the underside of the supporting plate 154 and its other end anchored to a fixed stud 222 at the underside of a housing member 224. The two tension springs 210 and 218 bias the supporting plates 152 and 154 toward their outer positions, and of course the springs are stretched each time the plates are moved toward one another to their inner supporting positions. When the plates 152 and 154 are reciprocated continuously by the common drive shaft 172 as in normal operation, the tension springs 210 and 218 have no significant effect on the operation. However, if the drive mechanism is stopped after the plates 152 and 154 have begun their outward travel, eg., in the approximate position of the supporting plates shown in FIG- URES 7 and 8, the springs will take over and move the plates apart in a rapid motion so as to assure that any magazines supported on the plates will be dropped in flat condition to the hopper 50.

It will be understood that it is possible for the plates 152 and 154- to move apart under the inuence of the springs 210 and 218 in the manner described above even though the drive shaft 172 is temporarily stopped, due to the relation between the drive sprocket 84 and driven sprocket 200 previously described in conjunction with FIGURES l0 and 1l. Because of the common drive apparatus between the two supporting plates 152 and 154, it is sufficient if only one of the two plates is biased toward its outer position, even though in the embodiment being described a tension spring is associated with each of the plates. Moreover, other types of auxiliary drive mechanism may be utilized to move the plates 152 and 154 away from one another if the main drive should be stopped after the plates have begun to separate. As one example, an auxiliary air cylinder (not shown) and associated crank may be utilized to impart limited rotation to the drive shaft 172 at such times, provided the auxiliary cylinder is controlled so that it operates only when the plates 152 and 154 have begun to move away from one another, and preferably only when the main drive system has stopped.

When the magazines are released by the supporting plates 152 and 154 as previously described, they fall into the hopper 50. As best shown in FIGURE 2, the hopper 50 is defined by four upright corner guide members 226, 228, 230 and 232 each of which defines one corner o-f the hopper and serves to maintain a neat stack of the magazines which are dropped in the hopper. At the front of the hopper 50 a horizontal mounting plate 234 is secured to a base 236 of the mailing machine by means of a pair of threaded mounting members 238 and 240 having knobs thereon to permit manual removal of the mounting rnemv bers and repositioning thereof in selected ones of a plurality of mounting holes 242. The two front corner guides 226 and 228 are carried on the mounting plate 234 by means of respective straps 244 and 246 and clamps or adjustable mounting members 248 and 258l The stop bar 146 is mounted at its lower end on the mounting plate 234 intermediate the front corner guides 226 and 228. The stop bar 146 is secured to the plate 234 by mounting means indicated generally at 252 which pivotally connects the bar to the mounting plate and yieldingly hold the bar in an upright position while permitting the same to be manually pivoted downwardly in order to gain access to the hopper 50.

As previously described, the magazines are conveyed by the feed rolls 74 and 76 into engagement with the stop bar 146. Such magazines are conveyed longitudinally so that it is either the top edge or the bottom edge of each magazine which engages the bar 146, it being assumed for purposes of the present description that the magazines leave the feed rolls 74 and 76 with their top edges first so that the latter edges engage against the bar 146. It will be understood that by adjusting the position of the mounting plate 234 and the front corner guides 226 and 228 carried thereon toward or away from the rear corner guides 230 and 232, it is possible to vary the length of the hopper 50 in accordance with the length or height of the magazines to be stacked therein. For example, FIGURE 3 shows the front corner guide 228 in solid lines in one position for small magazines and it shows in dash lines a second position for larger magazines. It is therefore possible to control with accuracy the position of the top and bottom edges of the magazines stacked in the hopper regardless of the size of such magazines, and as will be pointed out more fully hereinafter, the bottom edges will become the leading edges as the magazines are fed one at a time from the bottom of the stack to the label aixing unit 52 of the mailing machine. In addition, by loosening the clamps 248 and 250 it is possible to adjust the corner guides 226 and 228 laterally on the mounting plate 234 in accordance with the width of the magazines being stacked in the hopper. It will further be noted, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, that the rear hopper corner guides 236 and 232 are adjustably secured to a horizontal mounting plate 254 by means of straps 256 and clamps 258, and thus the rear corner guides are also adjustable laterally in accordance with the width of the magazines to be accommodated in the hopper 50.

The base of the hopper 50 comprises a flat horizontal shuttle plate 260 which in effect is a part of the mailing machine and is movable in a longitudinal reciprocating motion toward and away from the label afxing unit 52 of the mailing machine. FIGURE 3 shows an eccentric 262 driven from the mailing machine drive by drive means (not shown), and a rod 264 extends between the eccentric and a stud or connecting pin 266 at the underside of the shuttle or hopper base 260 so as to reciprocate the shuttle through a short horizontal stroke. Moreover, as best shown in FIGURE 2, a pusher bar 268 is secured to the top of the shuttle base 260 by a clamp 270, and the pusher bar is of a thickness somewhat less than the thickness of one of the magazines being stacked in the hopper 50. Accordingly, when the shuttle base 260 moves toward the label afxing unit 52, the pusher bar 268 will engage the top edge of the lowermost magazine in the stack and push the same toward the label affixing unit 52, after which conventional feed rollers and a lug chain conveyor (not shown) may be utilized to conduct such magazines one at a time to the label afxing unit for application of an address label the-reto. Additional stop or blocking means (not shown) may be provided at the rear of the hopper 50 for preventing the ejection of more than one magazine at a time from the bottom of the hopper.

As previously stated, the label aflixing unit 52 is driven from the main drive shaft 126 (see FIGURE 1) which in turn is driven from the inserting machine, whereby the mailing machine including the label aixing unit will operate in timed relation to the inserting machine. FIG- URES 2-4 show a sprocket wheel 272 and drive chain 274 which drive a sprocket member 276 mounted on a mailer drive shaft 277, the latter serving to drive the various components of the mailing machine including the label afxing unit 52 and the horizontal shuttle 260. Interposed between the input shaft 126 and the drive sprocket 272 are an electric clutch 278 and an over-running clutch member 280. There is also provided an auxiliary motor 282 which is arranged to drive the sprocket member 272 at a lesser speed than the main input shaft 126. The auxiliary motor 282 has a motor shaft 284 on which a sprocket 286 is mounted, and the sprocket 286 acts through a drive chain 288 and the over-running clutch 280 so as to drive the sprocket 272 and chain 274 and thereby drive the mailer drive shaft 277.

It will be understood from the foregoing that when the electric clutch 278 is energized, the main input shaft 126 will transmit drive torque through the electric clutch to the sprocket 272 and chain 274 and will thereby drive the mailer drive shaft 277 at its full relative speed in timed relation to the operation of the inserting machine. Thus, the label aflixing unit 52 will apply address labels to the magazines one at a time at the speed at which the magazines are conveyed two at a time from the inserting machine on the conveyor member 30. On the other hand, if the electric clutch 278 is deenergized, the input shaft 126 will no longer drive the sprocket 272, and if at such time the auxiliary motor 282 is operated, then the latter will act through the drive chain 288 and over-running clutch 280 to drive the sprocket 272 and thereby the mailer drive shaft 277 at a reduced rate of speed.

The mechanism for controlling the speed at which the mailing machine is driven will now be described, and for this purpose reference is rst made to FIGURE 2. It will be noted that electric eye mechanism is provided at the hopper 5t) in order to sense the height of the stack of magazines disposed therein. Thus, the rear hopper corner guide 230 is provided with three vertically spaced light sources comprising an upper light source 290a, an intermediate light source 290b and a lower light source 290C. The opposite rear corner guide 232 is provided with corresponding light receiver members or photocells cornprising an upper light receiver 292a`, an intermediate light receiver 292/J and a lower light receiver 292e, each such receiver or photocell being immediately opposite a corresponding one of the light sources.

FIGURE 13 comprises a simplified schematic wiring diagram illustrating the manner in which the above-described electric eye mechanism cor'ltrols the operation of the mailing machine including therlabel ailixing unit 52 and the horizontal shuttle 260, When the stack of magazines in the hopper S is below the lower light source 290C so that all three of the light beams are uninterrupted, a switch 294 will be open and the auxiliary drive motor 282 will be stopped. The electric clutch 278 will also be deenergized, and thus the label axing unit 52 and shuttle 260 will be stopped. At this time the inserting machine and related conveyors will continue to deliver magazines to the hopper 50, the latter machine being driven by a motor 296 connected to the power -source through an inserting machine circuit 298 and a switch 300 which is closed whenever it is desired to supply magazines to the hopper 50. When the height of therstackin the hopper 50 is above the lower light source 290C and below the intenmediate light source 290b so that only the lower light beam is interrupted, an electric clutch and auxiliary motor circuit 302 connected with the two light receivers 292b and 292e sense the interruption of the lower light beam and operates a relay 304 which closes the switch 294. Thus, the electric clutch 278 remain deenergized while the auxiliary motor 282 is energized, whereby the auX- iliary motor drives the mailing machine at a reduced speed. When the height of the stack of magazines in the hopper 50 is above the intermediate light source 290b but below the upper light source 290a the clutch and auxiliary motor circuit 302 senses that the lower and the intermediate light beams are interrupted and operates the relay 304 to open the switch 294 while at the same time energizing the electric clutch 278. Thus, the electric clutch 278 is energized so that the mailing machine drive shaft 277 is driven at full speed from the inserting machine through the main input shaft 126, while the auxiliary motor 282 is stopped.

If the height of the book stack in the hopper 50 should rise above the upper light source 290g, which will occur only if the mailing machine should become inoperative, then a maintained circuit relay 306 connected with the light receiver 292a will sense interruption of the upper light beam and operate a relay 308 which opens the switch 300 so as to disconnect the inserter machine motor 296. Thus, the inserting machine including the conveyor 30 will automatically be shut down so that no further books will be supplied to the hopper. After the defect in the mailing machine has been corrected, the operator must remove some of the magazines from the hopper 50 to bring the stack height below the light source 290:1, after which the inserting machine motor 296 may be restarted. In the alternative, the auxiliary motor 282 may be manually started in order to drive the mailing machine including the label axing unit 52 and horizontal shuttle 260 at reduced speed, while the inserting machine and associated conveyor 30 remain shut down until the stack height in the hopper 50 is reduced to a level below the upper light source 2.90ct. As indicated above, once the stack height falls below the light source 290a, the motor 296 is started so that the inserting machine including the conveyor 30 will operate to deliver further books to the hopper S0, at which time the inserting machine will once again drive the mailing machine at its relative full speed through the main input shaft`126.

With the electric eye control system described hereinabove, the mailer machine comprising the label afxing unit 52 and shuttle 260 is always run at an optimum speed, or is shut off, depending upon the supply of magazines which is in the hopper 50 and thus ready for feeding to the label aixing unit. As previously stated, the label aixing unit 52 automatically applies an address label to each magazine, and it is thus important that there always be an adequate supply of magazines when the unit 52 is operating to assure that no labels are run through the unit without being affixed to a magazine. Moreover, the mailer shuttle member 260 operates most effectively when there are several magazines in the hopper. Accordingly, as described above, the mailer does not operate unless the stack is as high as the lower light source 290e. Under normal operating conditions the stack of magazines will be maintained between the intermediate light source 290b and the upper light source 290a, and the mailer will be driven at full speed and at the same eiective speed as the inserting machine. However, the two speed drive arrangement for the :mailer minimizes starting and stopping thereof since if due to rejection of improperly fonmed magazines or for other reasons the inserter lags behind so as to cause the stack in the hopper to fall below the intermediate light source 290b, then the mailer `drive shaft 277 is driven at its slow speed until the inserter catches up and the stack again rises to the level of the light source 290b.

Summarizing the operation of the preferred embodiment of the loading machine 48 and related components described herein, the magazines coming from the inserter are conveyed two at a time on the first conveyor 30 until they engage a stop 64 lat the end of the conveyor 30, and at that time they are substantially immediately conveyed along a path perpendicular to the conveyor 30 by a second conveyor -66 which delivers the magazines to the upper and lower feed rolls 74 and 76. The magazines leave the lfeed rolls 74 and 76 two -at a time and pass between a pair of side guide plates 142 and 144 until the leading top edges of the magazines engage an :adjustable stop bar 146. Moreover, as the magazines leave the feed rolls 74 and 76, the two supporting plates 152 and 154 move toward one another to the approximate positions of FIGURE 7 to momentarily support the magazines over the hopper 50, the magazines being held in substantially at condition by the supporting plates and being positioned over the hopper by the adjustable guide plates 142 and 144 and the adjustable stop bar 146. The supporting plates 152 and 154 are then rapidly moved apart to drop the two magazines to the hopper 50, and if the -main input shaft 126 should be stopped after the plates 152 and 154 have begun to move apart, the tension springs 210 `and 218 will take over and pull the plates rapidly away from one another to assure that the magazines fall in flat condition as they drop into the hopper. The reciproeating mailer shuttle 260 :and pusher member 268 thereon operate to convey the magazines one at a time from the vbottom of the hopper 50 to the label afxing unit 52, fand the electric eye mechanism comprising the light sources 290 and receivers 292 serve to control the operation of th-e unit 52 and associated shuttle 260 in accordance with the height of the magazine stack in the hopper.

It is important to note the ability of the apparatus of the present invention to accommodate magazines of various sizes. For example, with reference to FIGURE l2, it is `customary that the magazines A coming from the inserter, such as on the conveyor 30, travel centered on the conveyor with their stitched edges A.s `first. However, it will be understood that if the magazines were dropped into la hopper at the end of the conveyor 30, the location of the top edges At and the bottom edges Ab would vary depending upon the height or length of the magazines, even though it is important that the edge which is to be fed rst toward the label atiixing unit be located in a constant predetermined position regardless of the size of the magazines being handled. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, the second conveyor 66 takes the -rnagazines from the conveyor 30 land feeds them in a direction perpendicular to the first conveyor so that the top edges At engage against the stop bar 146 above the hopper 50. The stop bar 146 is adjusted either toward or away from the label aiiixing unit 52 depending upon the length or height of the magazines, and in this manner the bottom edges Ab of the magazines in the hopper are located in 4a constant predetermined position regardless of the size of the magazines. Subsequently, the bottom edges Ab become the leading edges as the magazines are fed one at a time from the bottom of the hopper 50 to the label affixing unit 52.

We claim:

1. In apparatus for stacking magazines or other generally flat articles suitable for mailing, the `improvement comprising, in combination, a hopper for holding a stack of articles, conveying means for conveying articles along a generally horizontal path to a position iabove said hopper, a pair of oppositely disposed relatively flat support plates disposed in a common horizontal plane and positioned above said hopper and substantially immediately beneath said path, said support plates being movable in a reciprocating motion first toward one another to first positions wherein they receive an article from said conveying means and temporarily support the article in substantially fiat condition over said hopper and then away from one another to second positions to release said article and permit the same to drop into said hopper, and common drive means for driving said support plates in unison with one another between said first and second positions in timed relation with said conveying means, said common drive means including a `continuously rotatable `common drive shaft one end of which drives a first rotatable crank for reciprocating one of said support plates and the other end of which drives a second rotatable crank for reciprocating the other of said support plates.

2. In apparatus for stacking magazines or other generaly flat articles suitable for mailing, the improvement comprising, in combination, a hopper for holding a stack of articles, conveying means for conveying articles along a path to a position above said hopper, a pair of oppositely disposed supporting members positioned above said hopper and beneath said path, said supporting members -being movable toward one another to first positions wherein they receive an article from said conveying means and temporarily support the article in substantially flat condition over said hopper and being movable away from one another to second positions to release said article and permit the same to drop into said hopper, main drive means for normally moving said supporting members between said first and second positions in timed relation with said conveying means, and auxiliary spring means for biasing said supporting members away from one another toward said second positions.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said auxiliary spring means is operative after said supporting members have reached said first positions and have begun movement toward said second positions, said spring means serving to assure that said supporting members will not stop as they are moving from said first positions to said second positions even if said main drive means is stopped.

4. The invention of claim 2 wherein said main drive includes means which permits said supporting members to be moved from said first to said second positions independently of said main drive and while the latter remains stopped.

5. In apparatus for stacking magazines or other generally flat articles suitable for mailing, the improvement comprising, in combination, a hopper for holding a stack of articles, conveying means for conveying articles along a generally horizontal path to a position above said hopper, a pair of oppositely disposed supporting members positioned above said hopper and beneath said path, said supporting members being movable toward one another to first positions wherein they receive an article from said conveying means and temporarily support the article in substantially fiat condition over said hopper and being movable away from one another to second positions to release said article and permit the same to drop into said hopper, main drive means for normally moving said supporting members between said first and second positions in timed relation with said conveying means, said main drive means including means which permits said supporting members to be moved from said first to said second positions independently of said main drive and while the latter remains stopped, and auxiliary spring means for moving said supporting members away from one another to said second positions independently of said main drive means, said spring means being connected with at least one of said supporting members for biasing the same toward said second position.

6. The invention of claim S wherein said supporting members comprise a pair of relatively flat support plates positioned in a common horizontal plane, and wherein said main drive means includes a common drive shaft one end of which drives a first crank for reciprocating one of said support plates and the other end of which drives a second crank for reciprocating the other of said support plates.

7. In a system for stacking magazines or other generally flat articles suitable for mailing and for aiiixing address labels or the like thereto, the improvement comprising, in combination, a hopper for holding a stack of articles, label-aixing means for afiixing address labels to said articles, feed means for feeding said articles one at a time from the bottom of said hopper to said labelatiixing means, drive means for driving said label-affixing means and said feed means, sensing means for sensing the height of the stack of articles in said hopper, and control means responsive to said sensing means for controlling the operation of said drive means, said drive means including a first drive member for driving Said label-affixing means and said feed means at a tirst speed and a second drive member for driving said label-aiiixing means and said feed means at a second speed, said control means serving to render a selected one of said first and second drive members operative in accordance with the height of the stack of articles in said hopper.

8. The invention of claim 7 wherein said control means stops said drive means and thereby stops said label affixing means and said feed means when the height of the stack of articles in said hopper is below a predetermined level.

9. The invention of claim 7 including conveying means for delivering articles to said hopper, and wherein said control means stops said conveying means when the height of the stack of articles in said hopper is above a predetermined level.

10. In a system for stacking magazines or other generally fiat articles suitable for mailing and for aftixing address labels or the like thereto, the improvement comprising, in combination, a hopper for holding a stack of articles, conveying means for delivering articles to said hopper, label aixing means for affixing address labels to said articles, feed means for feeding said articles one at a time `from the bottom of said hopper to said label aflixing means, first drive means for driving said label affixing means and said feed means at a first full speed, second drive means for driving said label affixing means and said feed means at a second reduced speed, sensing means for sensing the height of the stack of articles in said hopper, and control means responsive to said sensing means for controlling the operation of said first and second drive means, said control means being operative to render both said first and second drive means inoperative when said stack is below a predetermined low level, for rendering said second drive means operative when said stack is above said predetermined low level, for rendering said first drive means operative when said stack is above a predetermined intermediate level, and for rendering said conveying means inoperative when said stack is above a high predetermined level.

11. The invention of claim wherein said sensing means comprises a plurality of light sources and corresponding light receiver members mounted in vertically spaced relation in association with said hopper.

12. In a system of the type including an inserting machine for forming magazines or the like and a label-affixing machine for atiixing address labels to such magazines, the improvement comprising, in combination, a stacking machine including a hopper for receiving magazines from said inserting machine and stacking the magazines in said hopper for subsequent delivery therefrom to said label-aixing machine, first conveying means for conveying magazines from said inserting machine along a first path, said magazines being oriented on said first conveying means with their bound edges first, second conveying means positioned to receive magazines from said first conveying means and to convey the magazines to said hopper along a second path perpendicular to said first path, said magazines being oriented on said second conveying means with said bound edges parallel to said second path, a stop member positioned over said hopper for engagement by a leading edge of a magazine delivered over said hopper by said second conveying means so as to stop such magazine in a predetermined positions above said hopper preparatory to dropping of the magazine into said hopper, said stop member being adjustable parallel to said second path in accordance with the height of said magazines so as to permit predetermined location of the top and `bottom edges of magazines disposed in said hopper, and feed means for feeding said magazines one at a time from the bottom of said hopper to said label axing machine, said feed means being positioned so as to feed magazines from said hopper along a third path parallel to said second path.

13. In a system of the type including an inserting machine for forming magazines or the like and a label affixing -rnachine for aixing address labels to such magazines, the improvement comprising, in combination, a stacking machine including a hopper for receiving magazines from said inserting machine and stacking the magazines in said hopper for subsequent delivery to said label atixing machine, frst conveying means for conveying magazines from said inserting machine along a first path, said magazines being oriented on said first conveyor with their bound edges first, second conveying means positioned to receive magazines from said first conveying means and to convey the magazines to said hopper along a second path perpendicular to said first path, said magazines being oriented on said second conveying means with said bound edges parallel to said second path, a stop member positioned over said hopper for engagement by a leading edge of a magazine delivered over said hopper by said second conveying means so as to stop said magazine in a predetermined position above said hopper preparatory to dropping of the magazine into said hopper, said stop member being adjustable parallel to said second path in accordance with the height of said magazines so as to permit predetermined location of the top and bottom edges of magazines disposed in said hopper, a pair of side guide means above said hopper one positioned at each side of said second path in approximate alignment with respective sides of said hopper for guiding magazines as they are delivered over said hopper by said second conveying means, and feed means for feeding said magazines one at a time from the ibottom of said hopper to said label affixing machine, said feed means being positioned so as to feed magazines from said hopper along a third path parallel to said second path.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,219,907 3/1917 Beauchamp 156-566 1,809,262 6/1931 Aicher 15G-364 2,133,260 10/1938 Wolff 270-2 2,646,179 7/1953 Sanford 214-58 2,374,174 4/1945 Buccicone 214-11 2,779,592 1/1957 Hartman 271-4 2,843,283 7/1958 Sarring et a1 156-351 3,901,952 9/1959 Taylor 93-93 3,054,516 9/1962 Joa 214-6 3,291,010 12/1966 Williamson 214-6 XR HAROLD ANSHER, Primary Examiner D. J. FRITSCH, Assistant Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 

